The present invention relates to a method of managing large volumes of information, intended for access on the Internet, where the information needs to be customized for unique users, displayed in multiple formats, and readily linked to other managed information or information on the Internet.
The advent of the Internet and the Internet browser has made it possible for people to view information from an access nodes, typically a personal computer or network computer, but more recently from such devices as PDA""s, cellular phones and Internet-enabled televisions, to name only a few of the many devices that are capable of Internet access. Furthermore, the World Wide Web permits finding and viewing, sequentially for better understanding in some cases, needed information by way of web pages, URLs, and hyperlinks. Although there exist many methods of locating, viewing and using information, the prior art does not contain a relatively simple process for managing information, customizing it for specific audiences, and/or automating many of the tasks associated with creating and maintaining a web site. Managing, adapting and making quickly available for use needed information to be displayed on one or more linked web sites is generally defined as the actions of a web publishing system.
In particular, the current invention relates to
One application for such a system is in the publishing and distribution of benefits information for corporate employees. As companies provide benefits to employees, it becomes necessary to publish the entire literature recording what is covered, and how benefits are to be used. The basic facts of the information presentation are determined in part by requirements such as federal and state statutes and case law, company policies, union contracts and insurance policies. Such requirements often change, as the laws and economic advantage to a company or union change with renewed lawmaker interest in tinkering with the statutes or a desire to improve quarterly profits.
Internet publishing of benefits information is complicated because a single company often offers multiple benefit plans for the same type of benefit (such as medical or dental insurance), however; each plan will have different coverage costs and limitations. In addition, a single insurance company may have made substantial changes in a generally offered plan to meet the marketing needs to a particular customer, so that the details of each plan may need to be specifically customized to the needs of individual companies, making it necessary for an insurance company to publish custom versions of plan information, even though they may be substantially similar to insurance plans for other companies.
With the growth of the World Wide Web, company HR departments saw a natural means of distributing benefits information through the Internet. With a little effort plan information could be converted to an appropriate format for posting on the web at a company owned web site or at a web site maintained on its behalf. Without a consistent navigation and organization structure the web site was not particularly useful for locating plan information.
The present invention comprises a subscription method for Internet viewer use of large and varied amounts of changing information. A first step requires forming a standard information structure particularized to an application, i.e., grouping facts or pieces of data into human factor-useful fact bodies or originating information bodies that are easily reviewable such as specific health benefits for a company benefits plan. Differentiated, segmented or sequentially entered originating bodies of information are selected from a larger group of originating bodies of information, where the selected originating bodies of information are then authored into a common library and the authoring action transmits with the authored bodies of information a record of the source of each piece of data as a portion of the body of information. Data in each authored body of information within the common library may be amended or deleted (i.e., selectively customized) to conform with desired viewing by Internet access users. All or part of the data within an originating and/or authored body of information (which may have been changed) is optionally linked for automatic updating from other source bodies of information, where those source bodies of information contain data which a particular subscriber company is permitted access by the invention system.
In a specific example below, the bodies of information contain data for employee benefit plans. Some of the data in at least one of the bodies of information is customized to the unique requirements of a hypothetical company. This method makes it possible to maintain a common library of benefit plan information that can be quickly customized and published to the Internet. It is intended that the subscriber company have customization access only to the common library of benefit plan information.
Published information in a standardized web site organization can be easily navigated to find needed information. The subscriber company can thus eliminate concerns about software and web site organization requirements for making its benefit plan information available to its employees and others. The invention method makes it cost effective for even the smallest companies to input, publish and update online access to benefit plan information. References herein to the Internet and xe2x80x9cweb pagesxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cweb sitexe2x80x9d extend to the many forms of computer networks in which a portion of the invention system operates on data whereafter that data is xe2x80x9cpublishedxe2x80x9d to a common access location as in the present example using the Internet. Clearly intended extensions of the invention system are to wireless and wired LANs, WANs, intranets, extranets, and the many permutations thereof now and hereafter developed with the invention data operation and publication functions.
It is an object of the invention to create a system that automates the process of linking web pages in a web site via changes to a common library and subsequent publication to the Internet.
It is another object of the invention to manage content and information separately from the specific files in a format required for publication to a web site.
It is yet another object of the invention to add links to data that is included in a web site.
It is still another object of the invention to remove links to information that is not included in a web site.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a method to create a standard data structure for related subject matter.
It is another object of the invention to create a common navigation structure for information in a web site.
It is another object of the invention to allow customization of information for individual viewing audiences.
It is another object of the invention to allow a unit of content to be shared in multiple locations within a body of information.
It is another object of the invention to allow content to be contextually interlinked to related content.
It is another object of the invention to separate the process of authoring content from the process of designing and creating web sites.
It is another object of the invention to allow common topics in different information plans to be easily compared.